The Lost Princess
by SP1CYSTR4WB3RRY
Summary: Non-Massacre. A strange 'red headed' girl with Hyuuga eyes found outside of Konoha holds the key to every question Konoha has since the start of the war with Cloud 15 years ago. An unknown race against time forces Itachi to do the impossible, even for him. He must find the door that the lost Hyuuga Princess guards.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.**

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As Bird was rushing home from his latest mission, sweat fusing his skin and mask together, he sensed something to be amiss within his surroundings. "Tch," he hissed, his wish of everything running smoothly until he and his team could finally return to Konoha. He signaled the three other shinobi to stop running through the trees.

"Nezumi, what do you hear?" Bird asked, waiting for Mouse to complete the given task with the use of his kikaichu colony. Mouse reached out, receiving the information the kikaichu collected. "There is a weak chakra signature that is present here, slightly stronger about a kilometer north-west of here, and the signature is stationary. My guess, someone ran through here not too long ago and given how sporadic and uneven the residual chakra signature is, the person of interest is hurt or weak. The information from my friends could not determine whether or not this unknown entity is a ninja or not."

"Tori-Senchou, this seems strange. Just because it appears weak does not necessarily make it so, especially since Nezumi can't sense it right. It could be a trap," muttered Horse lazily. Bird seemed to ponder that idea. _A kilometer north-west…that is too close to Konoha for my liking. Maybe he is right and it is a trap… _"Uma-"

"Well, we will never know until we check it out, right? So let's go see for ourselves if it is a trap. And would it be a trap for this ANBU team anyway?" Snake asks with an arrogant tone in his voice, practically seeing the cocky grin that is hiding behind his mask. The rest of the team sighs as Snake runs towards the area Mouse designated.

"Tch, why doesn't that stupid Hebi ever listen? And why did he have to be put into my squad…" Bird mutters as the rest of the ANBU team goes and follows Snake.

The ANBU team ran towards the chakra signature. _Strange, this chakra…it…it almost seems familiar…foreign yet familiar…what…who could it be…_thought Bird. Once the team was about thirty meters away from the target, it reacted as if it sensed them, running away as fast as it possibly can (which it was _not _fast at all, particularly when compared to Bird's superior ANBU team thankyouverymuch), and when the stranger ran about ten meters from its original location, the chakra signature was suddenly suspended into the air, staying that way.

Once the team finally reached the signature, they realized why it was suspended, whatever it was – the net of a poacher's trap was hanging within the trees, and the first thought that came to Bird's mind was how poaching, especially so close to Konoha's walls was illegal. His second thought was the internal musings of a young genius trying to decipher what, _who_ could possibly be in the net. From the trap, there was something that spilled out from the bottom of the net…something that looked a lot like blood.

The ANBU team split up around the trap in order to gather information: Horse noted that the thing that looked like blood was just in fact hair, the color a little _too _blood red. Mouse confirms that this is the chakra signature that he felt earlier, and finally discerns that if this person was not in fact a ninja (and wondering why his kikaichu had such a problem in figuring that out. Could the buzz from their high caused by the extreme chakra intake _really _affect their present sensing capabilities? He must study this puzzling thought), that there was a lot of raw potential that if trained, could make a powerful ally or a formidable foe. Bird activated his Byakugan, making note of the chakra coils, agreeing with Mouse. Bird also notices large, strong chakra coils around the eyes, deducing that this being has a doujutsu kekki genkai, one that has similar coils as the Byakugan. Snake notes that the being is indeed a female that is in serious need of immediate medical attention. As Mouse and Horse start to undo the net, Snake started to reach for the face of the young woman trapped in the net he found through the leaves, trying to see if he can obtain consciousness from the girl.

Right as Snake's fingers are about to touch the being's face, a pair of white eyes flash open, startling Snake enough to take a step back, a puzzled look on his face to match his stance. "Who…wha…?" he mutters questioningly. "Senchou, come look at this here."

Bird walks towards Snake, wondering what could surprise such a ninja as Snake.

"I swear Hebi, if this isn't as strange as you made it out to be, I think an early appointment for Ibiki is definitely in your future."

"Well then I guess I will never need to see Ibiki ever again, because this is plenty strange for you Senchou."

Snake moved out of the way once Bird appeared behind him, the rest of the team gathering around as well. Despite the thick humidity of the surrounding forest, Bird suddenly felt cold, chills continuously running up and down his spine. He noticed the slightly gaunt looking face, the dark circles marring her pale skin, but what he most definitely noticed was staring right back at him.

Eyes.

_White_ eyes.

"Do you think she is a Hyuuga, Tori-Senchou?" Mouse inquired.

"Are you kidding? Who has ever heard of a red headed Hyuuga before?" Snake stated. Bird could not figure out if Snake was being sarcastic or not from the tome of his voice, but Bird did secretly agree with Snake. Red hair on a Hyuuga is kind of unthinkable, and just downright weird and creepy. But on her…it was not _too _bad.

"Are you trying to be funny or are you just stupid?" Horse queried. "Anyway, there is a chance that these eyes were stolen from a Hyuuga. Do you know of any main branch Hyuugas that went missing or were killed during missions, Tori-Senchou? Any with their eyes removed?" Horse asked in an interrogating manner.

_Stolen eyes?! Yes, stolen eyes make the most sense in this case. Who would dare steal eyes from a Hyuuga…well, there is always Cloud, with whom we are at war with since the incident…what, fourteen…almost fifteen years ago-_

Bird's own white eyes widened at the thought. _Could it be, could it possibly be…her?_

Bird did not realize that he spoke aloud.

"Who could it be? Who is 'her'?" Horse questioned intensely, noting the severity of the situation (between the girl – Hyuuga or not – needing medical attention and speaking of possible sensitive information in technically 'enemy' territory).

"…Hinata…sama…?"

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A/N: i really do NOT need to start a new story right now, but this one has been playing in my head for a while (although the original idea was totally different, but it was still hinacentered and itahina with some nejihina) while I was writing the outline, the ideas were not correctly communicating with the Word Document, and I wanted to start writing it to help with that and to see how my writing has changed (it was beyond atrocious when I was younger. Gomen) I want to write a little more of the outline, so **this is not going to be updated on a weekly basis or anything**. But I thought I would test the waters with this idea for now (against my better judgement. Since I will not be on top of this all the time, there is a fantastic chance for plagiarism.) Plus I am going into my sophomore year of college so I will have no time to write come September. :c

**I am trying my knack at Naruto**^^ **this is my first Naruto story X3 **hopefully I can work through it well, as do not watch/read it much. Ah well, it just means more research for me, which is honestly half the fun XD. (Speaking of my "research," -which I didn't do thankyouverymuch- I do not know if there are many different animal masks in ANBU aside from the standard cat one, but I DO know Itachi was a weasel -pffft- so I will just go along with that process. Any ANBU of the Konoha twelve will either be ironic or fits in with their actual personality.

**If there are any factual mistakes** (like if I made Sasuke's favorite food chocolate cake where in fact he hates sweets) **do not hesitate to let me know. **

**But if it is something about characters being OOC, that is really just part of the story, and I can't make them any more IC, because it will disrupt the flow. Plus, this story takes on many key points in Naruto as they do not exist. Many of these events shape how the characters are. If these events do not happen, then the ripple effect of other factors and events that stemmed from that do not exist either.**

**I am presently playing around with the title/summary, so forgive any sudden changes in either.**

**Please Review. Critiques welcomed, flames are not. Thank you/ Debbie**


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

Disclaimer: There is some Latin use in this chapter. As i have taken a year of Latin I tried my best with it but i did _not_ learn a good majority of these words, so I resorted to Google Translate. Any inaccuracies with the Latin, I apologize for.

**Also, this chapter gets a bit dark in a psychological/self harm-y type of way. Here is a warning for the "faint of heart"**

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Through her training with Tsunade, Sakura had thought she was prepared for anything. That was until last night when an ANBU team brought in an unknown girl, telling both Sakura and Tsunade of the crazy deduction that they have come up with – that this girl, this strange looking red headed girl with odd markings all over her body, may be the lost Hyuuga heiress. Sakura just could not believe what they were saying. How could the dead come back to life?

Since Hinata Hyuuga was never _officially _confirmed dead, Tsunade and Sakura have to treat this possibility of truth with as much care as possible, and proceeded for the next ten hours of treatment. First, after changing the girl from the strange red dress she wore into a hospital gown, a visual checkup was administered, where small scrapes and cuts and bruises were healed quickly. Then blood was taken for the necessary blood tests that need to be analyzed. Tsunade made note of the strange markings covering the mystery girl's body had no known origins or meanings. After Tsunade cast a chakra subjugation technique to place the girl in an induced coma, they proceeded to give her a chemical shower as is standard in shinobi hospitals (those darn enemy villages), and in case the markings could have other detrimental effects. The shower did seem to remove the markings, at least superficially. Then Tsunade and Sakura continued to work on the girl, searching for broken bones and other maladies that could potentially be life threatening.

Sakura thought she saw something strange on the other side of the girl's neck, and instead of just asking Tsunade to check it out (since Tsunade was on that side of the body, just further down), she decided that she should go ahead and check on her own, moving her hand around the neck in an almost choking fashion.

The possible Hyuuga's eyes shot open, and instead of a pearlescent white, Sakura and Tsunade were exposed to a glowing red. The girl sat up so quickly that the two trained kunoichi in the room could not follow the movement with their eyes.

"Come on Sakura, restrain her!"

"I am _trying_ Tsunade-sama, but she won't budge!" Sakura said in a strained voice. The response that both of the medical nins heard was an awful scream. The scream curdled their blood, wrenched their guts, and nearly broke the glass of the machines and windows.

Sakura broke through the painful haze of the screaming when she was slapped in the face by the flailing patient and grabbed one of her upper arms. She used her super strength, one hand on the upper arm and the other on the shoulder, and with a grunt she pushed down with all her might. The girl moves her arm, breaking it in the process. Sakura lets go of the girl's broken arm, frightened and sickened at the sight of it.

"_Diabolus animam frui manducans." _The girl states in a voice that does not appear to be her own, much too masculine and echoed to be the voice of a young girl. In the haze of hearing the seemingly possessed girl speak for the first time in a strange language, neither medic realized that the girl started to bite at Tsunade until teeth met flesh, forcing Tsunade to let go as well. Once the girl was free from her restraints, she jumped out of the hospital bed and runs out of the room. Once out of the room, she notices that her markings are gone.

"_Abiit! Nihil! Ubi fuerint?"_ She continued to repeat that last remark softly, looking around her body and the hospital waiting room, with an almost whine in her voice, akin to a child who lost their favorite toy. She walks down the hallway, turns her head to face another hospital corridor, and sees a nurse filling out a chart. She runs to the nurse to rip the pen out of the now scared nurse's hand and tries to redraw the markings into her skin.

"_Hoc colorem! Non orportet! Necesse rubeum. Sanguine. Sanguine."_ She mutters as she pushes the blue inked pen harder and harder into her skin until the outer layers of skin are rubbed raw and start to crack and lightly bleed. The other nurses surrounding her try to restrain her and stop her from harming herself, but the mystery girl continued to lash out and attack anyone who tries to stop her with slapping and biting.

Neji clicked his tongue at the sight of the entourage that joined him in his quest to the hospital to find out if the girl he found (well, _his _ANBU team, anyway) was really the lost Hyuuga heiress. Sasuke wanted to come along since he did find her (plus he could not get the thought of those eyes shooting open out of his head no matter what he tried to do) and the girl being the Hyuuga they think she is affects him as well (with his –arranged- engagement to the present heiress, Hanabi). Neji could hardly fault Sasuke for being curious, as secretive as this matter is (the Hyuuga was not notified immediately, since Neji wanted the test results first _bad boy, _Neji). Naruto wanted to join the party of two since he was going to visit the hospital anyway – to bother Sakura and Tsunade. And strangely enough, Itachi joined the group as well, stating that he wanted to _come along for the ride_ with his brother. Did Itachi not realize the severity of whatever outcome there may be? Or was this just his attempt at a poorly timed joke? Neji broke out of his reverie with the loud commotion occurring in the waiting room, grabbing the attention of all four shinobi, holding it steadfast.

The girl is aggressively speaking in unknown language and violently drawing some sort of marking throughout her body, pressing so hard that her hands and numerous parts of her body were covered in blood, and she is not stopping. What perturbed the shinobi the most is that she was able to harm herself without any intervention from the observing staff.

Neji was the first of the four to grab his bearings, and made his way towards his possible cousin, horrified at the sight of what she was doing with no one helping her. He started to step forward, but the nearest nurse stopped him, explaining that anyone that goes near her gets attacked, forcing no intervention.

"I do not care!" Neji yells, pushing past the nurse. He manages to grab the hand holding the pen, but she screams in his face and manages to hit him wherever she can reach with her other hand. She starts to move her head to bite the hand restraining her, but with a quick reflex, Neji is able to shield the union of limbs with his other arm, to which she proceeds to bite. While he is focused on the pain, the girl breaks her wrist and releases her arm from the hold, shocking everyone in the room.

Before she can react, Itachi came in and grabbed her upper arms. The girl continued to scream in his face some more, but he shakes her, forcing her head, her _eyes,_ to face his own red ones, imposing sleep on the girl with his spinning tomoe. Itachi picks her up bridal style, navigating through the still shell shocked people and carrying her to her room after finding out from a nurse. Tsunade proceeds to heal the broken arm and wrist and manages to remove the pen markings and close the cuts.

"Hyuuga or not, because of what just happened, I have to put her under a seventy-two hour psychiatric evaluation," Tsunade stated to a reluctant Neji, who nodded his response. He started to feel conflicted on whether or not he actually wanted the mystery girl to be a Hyuuga, based on her actions. He could not believe that this young woman stemmed from the little girl that he liked and felt protective over, that braided flowers in his hair, was his only friend. Neji is not sure what would be better: that this girl is Hinata Hyuuga or that Hinata Hyuuga is in fact dead. If her being alive meant that she was this mystery girl, than what could be worse? There is obviously some kind of trauma, something that made her like this and he cannot bear to think that his cute little Hinata-sama went through such a thing.

The next morning, the mystery girl woke up to an internal sound she hears and wakes up to almost every day: the devil's sweet siren call. As she opens her eyes slowly, she does not find the familiar browns and greys, but the stark, cold, medicinal white that burn the irises. When she opens her eyes further, she finds herself in a padded room with something attached to both wrists and ankles. The slight pressure of the attachments on her sensitive appendages trigger painful memories of the darkest time of her life.

She was no longer the eighteen year old woman who was meant for greatness, the greatest honor of all time…

She gasped for air as she tried to make sense of the situation, the stress caused by the terrifying onslaught of memories.

…she was once again a three year old whom was kidnapped, taken from her mother's arms, her father's guidance, her clan's teachings.

The deafening silence of the padded room was too much on the stressed out girl.

She screamed.

She screamed and screamed until her throat was getting hoarse and raw. And even then she screamed some more.

Her screaming caught the attention of an orderly passing by (irritable for one reason or another, even he did not know for sure, just that he was extremely annoyed and any little disturbance in his fragile emotions – like incessant screaming – would teeter him off the edge), who bangs on the door to her padded room, yelling at the poor screaming girl to shut up.

The girl gets startled by the loud banging and the yelling, causing her to huddle into the corner of the room, cowering in fear. Most of her screams had turned into sobs and had considerably quieted down, but the orderly did not appreciate her efforts and continues to bang on the door and yell at her, causing some screams to return, the girl trying to push herself further into the corner and grasping her head in a protective manner.

The irritated orderly huffs and is fed up with the constant noise, creating a headache that he does not need. The orderly goes into the girls' room.

"You want to scream, huh? Oh I will give you something to scream about," he states darkly, deciding to beat her around for a bit and then tranquilize her to silence her. Who would believe her anyway, if she were to report him? She is in a psych evaluation and was tranquilized. _Will be anyway, with ketamine,_ he thinks, smirking to himself at his cleverness, since ketamine is a hallucinogen.

Once the door closes, all anyone from the outside could hear are the frightened screams of a girl, followed by the painful screams of a man. Both sets of screams are present until the girl's is all that remains.

And a splattering of blood on the bullet proof glass panel is all that can be seen in contrast against the stark white.

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Diabolus animam frui manducans.: The devil will enjoy eating your soul

Abiit! Nihil! Ubi fuerint?: Gone! No! Where did they go?

Hoc colorem! Non orportet! Necesse rubeum. Sanguine. Sanguine.: Wrong color! Not right! Need red. Blood. Blood.

Oh, and I _really_ do NOT like Sakura. I think that is a little obvious, what with how I make her kinda sorta really useless. c:

Please review.


	3. Chapter 2

**Please read A/N**

**I don't own Naruto. And I am posting this after it finished. Huh. This feels weird.**

**So here is chapter two. I finished this chapter later than I wanted - I had most of it done in September, but college is a raging bitch, not to mention starting a new job. **

**Warning: graphic content in this chapter. And what transpired between the orderly and Hinata happens in this chapter, and it is a bit graphic. If you don't like graphic content ****then why are you reading this, this entire story is graphic ****note the large italic block as that is the start and end of the 'flashback'. Viewer discretion is advised. There. I said my piece. **

**Pseudo-Latin (well, google translate Latin) in this chapter:** **"**_**Tange camella cum intentae mal et maledicent equidem mortem.**_**" Means "touch this vessel with mal intent and be cursed to die."**

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After the day she has had, Tsunade wanted the slightest semblance of peace. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve herself of the headache that was coming on. Tired annoyance was seen on her face through her furrowed brow. As she begrudgingly made her rounds in the hospital with her medic-nin apprentice Ino in tow, on their way to receive the mystery girl's blood tests, they both heard a macabre harmony of feminine and masculine screaming in the general direction of the psychiatric ward. While she did know that some of the permanent residents here did enjoy emitting disturbing vocalization, she felt in her gut that something was wrong, especially since there was a new, (probably) temporary resident there.

The two medics ran towards the source of the sound, where they heard a change in the pitch: the deep masculine sound that was previously heard was no longer present, just a high pitched wail amidst sobs. They find the girl's room, shocked to see the glass panel stained with a thick stream of blood splattered across it. Tsunade has Ino unlock the door immediately and they run in to the room, the air thick with the scent of blood and death, the coppery taste of the air invading Tsunade's mouth, making her feel slightly faint and nauseous. Tsunade pushes passed the dizziness and bile induced from the scent of blood, the sound of Ino dry-heaving brings Tsunade back to the present, but the sight in front of her makes her gag again and want to retreat back into the safety of her unconscious that the dizziness promised.

Her eyes found the girl, cowering in the corner, hysterically sobbing and pushing herself further and further into the corner, as if she was trying to force the wall to swallow her whole. Tsunade could see the wiry, finger-like bruises forming around her ankles and wrists, along with a nasty bruise forming on her cheek, in the shape of a hand. Tsunade also saw some blood splattered on the girl's ankles and legs, but a quick visual deduced the source of the blood was not from the girl herself.

Tsunade could easily deduce that the blood came from the unrecognizable cadaver littering the floor, pieces of the body strewn across the room.

Tsunade and Ino noticed that the hysterical sobs have mostly subsided to just shuddering gasps, when the same misplaced voice that Tsunade heard before started to speak once again.

"_Tange camella cum intentae mal et maledicent equidem mortem._" The tone of the strange voice, the threat that carried through the air, caused the two kunoichi to take a step back. The girl returned to sobbing harshly among the shuddering gasps. Concerned for the girl, especially since it seemed to Tsunade that the girl was having difficulty breathing, Tsunade steeled her nerves, clenched her fists, and walked towards the girl. She squats down, arm reaching out.

"Hey, are you okay? What happened?" she asked, lightly touching the girl's shoulder. The girl looks up at Tsunade, who gasps and falls back.

Her eyes.

They were glowing red again and still terrifying. Just as Tsunade was about to say something, the glowing red color started to fade away from her eyes, finally becoming a pale whitish lavender, reminiscent of a Hyuuga. Once her eyes finish returning to their normal color, the girl faints, landing perfectly into Tsunade's arms. Ino and Tsunade share a look, wondering what they are going to do. What was proper protocol for this type of situation anyway? Tsunade's headache was coming on stronger and stronger by the minute, as it often did when she did not have answers (or – though she would never admit it – was starting to come down with a hangover. But that is just silly. A champion drinker like the Godaime would never have a hangover. One must banish such preposterous thoughts.).

"What happened here?" Tsunade and Ino jumped at the sound of Itachi's voice, and turned back to see the shinobi, standing at full attention, face almost neutral except for the nearly invisible frown around his lips, the slight tightening around his eyes, and the slight furrow of his brow. He was concerned and very disgusted at the sight in front of him (he greatly hated bloodshed, especially unnecessary bloodshed and grotesque torture not unlike the scene in front of him.), but was very good at hiding his emotions.

"What are you doing here?" asked Tsunade, still stunned at seeing him down in the psychiatric ward.

"I just got back from my latest mission and was going to give you my report, but when I went to the Hokage tower, Iruka said you were here. I looked for you and then sensed your chakra here. Now I repeat, what happened here?"

"We aren't really sure, we just heard screaming when we were making our rounds, and found this. She said something in that strange language again, had glowing red eyes again, and when the red faded away, she passed out. That is literally all I know."

"Maybe I can be of some help." Itachi states, activating his sharingan.

"Please do."

"Well then, please wake her up."

They manage to shake her awake, and once she opens her eyes, she is faced with those red ones once again, with the spinning tomoe coercing her into a hypnotic trance of sorts. Itachi is within her mind, seeing what happened to her within the last hour, forcing her to relive that as he lives it through her eyes for the first time.

_The girl wakes up to the sound of a strange tune that Itachi cannot pinpoint where it is coming from as there is no obvious sources for the sound. The girl, fully awake, takes in her surroundings and feels fear, where a flash of a cage in the darkness presents itself before her very eyes. She begins to cry and scream, pushing herself further and further into the corner of the padded room. She hears footsteps outside of her room, along with some grumbling. All of a sudden, there is a loud banging noise coming from the direction of the door, where an irritable masculine voice tells her to shut up. Scared, she cries harder and screams louder. _

_First the noise of the footsteps fades, but then it returns, getting louder and louder with each step. She hears noises that indicate that the door is unlocking, and turns her head to the door. She sees the man, greasy and disheveled looking, coming into the room with a deep set scowl on his face and carrying something that Itachi identified as a syringe. What that syringe was actually filled with was undeterminable from his perspective, but Itachi deduced it was some sort of tranquilizer, as the man expressed his anger at her screaming._

_A strange look appeared in the man's eyes, Itachi noted, like he was 'checking this girl out' (as his brother would say). The man inches closer, slowly and with a crazed look in his eyes. Once he gets in front of the girl, he kneels on the floor and places his hands on her knees, still impossibly tight against her torso. The girl realizes what he is about to do, and tries to fight him off. The half-crazed man is all the more exited, grabbing her ankles and pulling her legs down. She is still screaming, to which the man takes the opportunity to slap her hard across the cheek, where the taste of blood dazes her for a minute. While she remains dazed, the man grabs her wrists and holds them in one hand, the other still holding the syringe, where is about to stab the concoction into her neck, presumably for her to remain docile._

_The girl's eyes all of a sudden seemed to be not her own, as though she was no longer viewing the world from her own perspective. She turned her head quickly to face the man, her red glowing eyes reflecting in his brown ones. A strange sensation occurred in her body, starting from her core and flying outward, pushing him the orderly off her, flying across the room, hitting the opposite wall hard. The syringe fell from his hands, falling harmlessly onto the floor, where all of a sudden, it broke as if someone grabbed the syringe and crushed it in their hands. The man gathers his bearings, standing, shaking his head while he reaches his hand towards his forehead, finding blood of his fingers as he tenderly touched it. He looked at the girl with a murderous look on his face, and started to run at her in a predatory motion. He stopped, as if he was being held, then he seemed to be pulled in multiple directions, where some invisible force continued to grab at him, torturing him and literally tearing him limb from limb, blood splattering everywhere. They both are screaming as he is torn apart, until his head is separated from his torso. But the disgusting massacre does not end there, the strange invisible force (which strangely looked like…hands?) continued to rip him apart until he was completely unrecognizable, the splattering blood and tearing flesh scaring the girl further. After the…hands returned to their…master (Itachi is extremely puzzled by this idea, but he can't think of anything else to call it), there was the noise of the door busting open and Tsunade and Ino came in. Itachi continued to see the aftermath of what had just conspired, up until he came into the room._

While Itachi was delving in the mystery girl's mind, Tsunade sent Ino to finally get the girl's blood results and had used one of her slugs to retrieve Neji. While they waited for the others to return, Itachi began to explain the whole ordeal to Tsunade, who then asked him to make a report of this.

Finally, Neji and Ino get to the room, and while Ino (who met with him in the hallway when she was returning from the blood lab) warned him of what was in the room, nothing could have prepared him to what was actually there. Neji was outraged.

"What is the meaning of this?" He roared, scaring the mystery girl in the process, causing her to cry. Tsunade gave him a dry look that clearly said look-at-what-you-did-you-asshole.

"We were just about to find that out since Itachi just finished recording the mind dive he did with his sharingan. So Itachi, can you tell us, and…show us what happened?" Tsunade looked expectantly at the ANBU captain. He launched into what really happened, explained what he saw there, and even looked into their eyes with his activated sharingan and 'sent' the recording of what happened to their minds, the other three living the horror of what had transpired. They all had mixed looks of horrified disgust and confused concern on their faces.

Tsunade was the first to break out of the trance brought on by the experience. "Ino, give me the file." "Yes, ma'am." Ino said, still half dazed, handing her the file by muscle memory alone. The Godaime opened the results and sees the mystery girls' entire blood workup. She frowns.

"Well, the good news is, with ninety-seven point nine percent accuracy, she is in fact, Hinata Hyuuga. The bad news is that she is severely malnourished," she paused as she flipped the page, her eyes widening, "and she is on an insane amount of…well, I think they are drugs, but there is a long list of what is listed as unknown. Something is really wrong here. In all honesty, seeing this chart, she should not even be alive right now."

"What in the world was that thing that killed the guy? Could it be connected to whatever the unknowns are in her blood?" Ino asks, breaking the silence after Tsunade's revelation.

Itachi, puzzled, speaks first. "Well, as ludicrous as it seems, the only thing I can deduce is that this girl, Hinata Hyuuga, is...possessed. Of what, I cannot be sure. And we do not know anything for sure regarding her, so it is possible that everything unknown is connected in some way or another. Since we do not know what is…possessing her, we cannot exorcize it, as the wrong exorcism can kill her or make the being stronger. I can try to suppress it, but I will not make any promises."

Itachi looks into Hinata's eyes with his sharingan, trying hard to face the unknown entity within the young woman before him, and push it down. This task went on for a long while, sweat dripping off Itachi's nose and a slightly furrowed brow the only things revealing the hardship of the task, the opposing entity obviously being a difficult adversary, Itachi's brow furrowing deeper and deeper, gritting his teeth more and more as time went on. After almost forty-five minutes, Itachi closed his eyes, returning them to their natural black coloring, and sighed.

"I was unable to suppress the…thing completely, but it is suppressed for the time being, at least," he states, visibly disappointed and perturbed at his inability to complete the task despite knowing the difficulty beforehand (since when was _the_ Itachi Uchiha unable to do whatever he wanted – such a thing was unheard of). Hinata continued to stare out with a blank look on her face, unresponsive.

Neji took a step towards her, knelt down, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hinata-sama…" he whispers gently. She slowly turns her head to face him, indicating that she heard him. Once her eyes are in line with his chin, she lifts her head, white eyes meeting white, staring for a seemingly long while. Hinata blinks, her breath having a slight hiccup at the end, begins to tear up and falls into Neji's chest, his shirt ruined from the salty tears. Hinata mumbles something into Neji's shirt, the muffled words not understandable. She curls further, her chin tucked towards her chest, small hands still grasping his shirt, grip so tight, her knuckles turned whiter than should be possible on a living body.

"Mommy…mommy…mommy…"

* * *

**And there you have it. The chapter was supposed to end at a different spot but I think the way I wrote it, it works better this way. And anyway, I revealed that there is lots of shit wrong with Hinata at the moment, so I think this good for you guys to chew on for now.**

**Constructive criticism as always is welcome. I proof this myself, but there is always the chance that I overlooked something, so feel free to say so, and thank you in advance.**

**PS I know there was a Yamanaka in the room throughout the entirety of the chapter, but I wanted Itachi to do the mind dive thing. Plus, I do not know if it is canon, but I read in another fic that Itachi was able to record dreams/memories, so if it isn't canon, then that is my creative license. **

**Thank God I revealed it was in fact Hinata in this chapter. I was getting tired of typing 'that girl' XD.**

**If the hand things sound familiar, it is because they are from another anime. State it in your review if you figured out which one and I will give a shout out in the next chapter. Whenever I write that XD.**

**Speaking of the next chapter, I probably won't get to updating before the holidays, so if you celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. If you do not, Happy Holidays to you as well. **


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: wow, it has been quite a while. sorry for that. college has been awful (in the bad way). but now its summer. hopefully i write a lot and i don't just put it off. oh well. i warned you updates were going to be sporadic at best.**

**i had the first part of this chapter written for the longest time, and i finally finished the rest of it this past weekend. it was actually quite mentally stimulating and draining at the same time to write again and i enjoyed that. im only sorry that the chapter was not as long as i wanted, since it has been so long, but it ended at a good place, and i wanted to post something.**

**and congratulations to Miih-chan, who figured it out - yes, those 'hand-like' things in the last chapter were vectors from elfen lied. this chapter is dedicated to you!**

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto (naruto) and Okamoto (elfen lied - for the last couple of chapters, not so much for this one) own. I play. **

* * *

Neji was at a loss at what to do. He looked over at the Godaime, but she shrugged her shoulders, causing him to give her a flat look. _Thank you O Glorious Godaime, you have been such a great help today._ Neji looked down at the sobbing girl, raising his hands to her shaking back and rubbed it comfortingly. Ino walked over to the Hyuuga pair, gently placing her hand on top of a sea of crimson as to not startle the charge in Neji's arms, gently running her fingers through the girl's- Hinata's, hair.

"You should go Neji, and inform your family that Hinata is here. I am sure her father would be happy to see her. She has been missing for what, fourteen, fifteen years now? I can keep her company while you get your uncle." Neji looked over at the Yamanaka, nodding his agreement and thanks. Ino aided Neji in prying the fellow Hyuuga's hands away from him so he could leave. As Neji started his retreat, Tsunade followed him out into the hallway.

"We are going to move her into a new room while you get her father. She still needs to stay here at least a few more days while we monitor her, and I am going to put her under twenty-four watch and care. Based on her…experiences here, I think the person with her in the room should be female. I am setting up Ino with the first shift, as she seems fine with her so far. There will be a slug at the reception desk waiting for you and your uncle when you arrive to bring you to the new room." Neji grunted his response and left as quickly as socially acceptable (he _was_ a Hyuuga after all).

Once he arrived at the Hyuuga residence, he engaged in small talk with his fellow branch members (the guards on duty at the gate) and inquired about the whereabouts of his uncle. They told him that Hiashi was in his office, but he did not wish to be disturbed.

"Trust me, this is something he will want to know about right away." Neji left the gate guards to return to his original objective when he saw his father. He explained that he was going to see the Hyuuga head and that he should join in on the meeting, as this affects both branches. They appeared in front of the office door where Neji knocked and entered without the verbal response he normally would have waited for (Hizashi will have to remember to reprimand him for that, he taught the boy better…). Hiashi looked up, annoyed as he _clearly_ ordered not to be disturbed and was going to give whomever was interrupting him _a piece of his mind_. Seeing the look on his nephew's face and how his brother (ahem branch slave) looked concerned, Hiashi kept his annoyance to himself.

"I have something to report Hyuuga-sama. It is of grave importance and could even change the very fabric of the Hyuuga clan." Neji said gravely, denoting the importance of this meeting. Neji paused, taking the deep breath that he knew he needed, looking at his uncle steadily in the eye.

"Hinata Hyuuga has been found. Alive and intact."

* * *

Tsunade walked back into the room finding the Hyuuga cuddled against the Yamanaka's chest, wide-eyed and continuously gasp-crying, staring at nothing. Ino repeatedly tried to calm her down, gently shushing her while alternating rubbing her back and running her hand down the back of her head, comforting her in an oddly motherly way. The Godaime announced her plans for Hinata to the other, more alert people in the room. Itachi was walking towards her, motioning with his eyes that they should talk outside of the room.

"I hope, Lady Hokage, that you have do not have anything in the form of a questioning planned for her, not for some time anyway. Let her get used to being here, get comfortable with her surroundings. We do not know what she has been through, or if she is even capable of understanding and correctly responding to any inquiry. She needs time to heal."

Tsunade's eyes tightened slightly and she ground her teeth a little. She knew he was right, but she was the Hokage. And not just the Hokage, but a world renowned medic ninja, thank you very much. She knew what needed to be done for the newly found Hyuuga in the short term, and she _did not appreciate one of her underlings telling her what to do, in regards to one of her citizens and _especially _in regards to medicine._

"Right now, let's prep a room for her so she can get out of this blood fest. Her future therapy can be discussed after she is situated. You can go now, Uchiha. But do not forget that everything that happened in this room is now officially an S-class secret."

She noticed that for some reason, his stoic face bothered her as he bowed his understanding and left without another word. She was ready to push it off towards her dislike of Uchiha arrogance, but she knew deep down it was not that – he was not arrogant. She did not know what it was, but she did not have the time to mull it over further.

She personally went to new hospital room to fix it up, making sure that there was not anything that the Hyuuga girl could use to possibly hurt herself. The Uchiha was not one hundred percent confident in his suppression of the being that possessed her. There was no knowing when the dam would burst.

After making sure everything was alright and sending a slug to the front desk, she returned to the female pair in that room and brought them to the new one, deciding it was time for Hinata to finally change clothes and bathe (the blood was starting to dry and it must have been extremely uncomfortable, if not a bit itchy), filling the tub with warm water (yes, the Hokage gave the girl one of the nicer rooms in the hospital, and no doubt her father would cover the expenses). Ino and Tsunade both helped the girl who just seemed to let them take the lead, with no will of her own stopping them. Ino took note of the lack of embarrassed modesty when she finally removed the red stained, tattered hospital gown and hospital administered underwear- that either meant that her mind was set back into a place before the idea of modesty would be put into action for a young girl (so an infant, really, which would also explain her crying for her mother) or, she was used to being naked around other people. Oh God, Ino hoped it was the former, as it is vastly the lesser of two evils.

They lowered the girl into the tub, and Ino grabbed the (now soapy) washcloth and started to wash the limp girl's back. Why was she letting them move her so much? Why was she a literal limp noodle? What is going on inside that mind of hers? The Yamanaka was tempted to mind walk Hinata but would not until the Hokage gave her the all clear. Whatever Itachi did to her seemed to make her almost an empty vessel and something told her that this was not right, that it was not supposed to happen.

After Hinata was fully washed, the cold water now tinged a light watery pink, Tsunade wrapped her in a towel and proceeded to dry and dress her (a new set of hospital gown and underwear was brought into the bathroom by Ino). After she was fully dry, Ino grabbed a hairbrush and started to brush out Hinata's hair for her (hair, she can do. The girly stuff was Ino's real specialty). As she watched, the adrenaline finally left Tsunade's body, causing her to sag slightly against the doorframe. She felt physically and mentally exhausted, and if she did not know better, she would have thought she had been up for days rather than hours given the state she was in. A familiar sickness started to also return (she saw so much blood today she was surprised that she was not passed out on the floor at this very moment), but she tried to push it down. Just a few more minutes, and she can collapse in her chair in her office.

Tsunade reiterated to Ino that she was to take the first shift in the Hyuuga watch duty, and that she would be the one (since Tsunade was returning to the Hokage tower) to formally speak to the Hyuuga head about this entire situation, whenever he got his sorry ass over from the compound. Tsunade tiredly chuckled. She would have paid good money to see the look on his face when Neji told that bastard the good news.

* * *

Hiashi Hyuuga was a very proud man, as his (ahem _justifiable_) pride was warranted with coming from such a prestigious, established, old clan. There were few times in life that something brought him out of his stoic persona, his calm and controlled understanding of the clan, the world, and himself.

This was one of those times.

_Hinata Hyuuga has been found. Alive and intact._

Hiashi's eyes widened marginally (but extremely wide for a Hyuuga – you could actually distinguish the white of his irises from the rest of his eye! Unheard of!), and the thin line of his lips widened as his lower lip had fallen a whole half a centimeter.

In layman's terms, he was bugged eyed and jaw dropped.

He blubbered (well, as much a blubber as a Hyuuga could actually muster) for a while, demanding an explanation from his nephew. Neji explained everything that has occurred regarding this girl within the past few days, and he honestly grew more and more skeptical. Psychological evaluation? Suicide watch? What was Tsunade doing? And was this girl even his long lost daughter?

Hiashi had his nephew lead him to the hospital, finding the slug at the front desk (_ugh,_ he hated slugs), where it led them to her room and finally unsummoned itself. Neji knocked gently and slowly opened the door, allowing Hiashi to see his daughter for the first time since she was by those damn Kumo nin almost fifteen years ago. This girl, facing away from them and curled in fetal position, was the lost Hyuuga princess that ignited the war between the two countries. Well, there were battles before the incident, and while they were increasing in intensity and occurrence, her kidnapping (and their blatant denial in taking part, especially after their repeated and obvious desires to possess the Byakugan) is what officially put Konoha and Kumo to war. She was the subject of many a song sung by minstrels. And here she was, right before his very eyes.

She was so small, her body curling in on herself to protect herself from the outside world. The blonde girl in the room (a Yamanaka, he assumed by her coloring) continued to hum softly, running her fingers through those crimson locks and-

Wait.

Red hair?

His daughter, his precious little Hinata, did _not_ have red hair.

* * *

**Aaaaaaand there you have it.**

**I may have made Ino a bit OOC, but i needed someone who was a mednin (canon or not, everyone puts the rookie nine girls in the hospital. all. the. time.) that wasnt sakura to care for hinata, so that fell onto Ino and so i made her a bit...motherly? i dont know anymore. apparently its not normal behavior, since the others were shocked. maybe hinata invokes that kind of reaction from people? i dont know. and i wrote it. thats really sad *sobbu sobbu***

**hopefully the next chapter is out soon.**

**Jaa, mata.**

**Debbie **


	5. Chapter 4

**Minna, hisashiburi~**

**It really has been a while. this chapter was harder than i thought it would be to write and get out (plus real life getting in the way, ugh). but classes start again tomorrow and i swore to myself that i would post at least one chapter during my winter break. even if i did plan to make it longer to make it up to you. ah well. ONWARDS**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Hiashi angrily turned to Neji, incredulous that Neji could have been tricked into thinking that this was his cous- his…heiress. Frowning, he demanded loudly to speak to the Hokage, inadvertently spooking the resting girl in the room that he is visibly and continuously refusing to be his daughter. The Yamanaka girl inside the hospital room sharply looked up at the clan head, her face morphing into a frown. She slowly and methodically got up, closed the curtain, moved to the sink and washed her hands, came out, and closed the door before she took a breath and faced the two Hyuugas.

"Lord Hyuuga, Neji, if you would be so kind, we just got her comfortable and loud, harsh noises does not really aid in the healing process. If you wish to be loud, please do so in the waiting room, as you are not only disturbing Hinata, but every other patient on this floor."

Hiashi huffed at the audacity of this girl. "That is not my daughter. I do not know what kind of trick you are playing, but please note that it is not appreciated. This is sick. You all are sick if you think I am just going to sit here and take this and not be expected to take any sort of retribution, you are sorely mistaken."

Ino was taken aback at the slight, the _ever so slight_ tremor in his voice as well as his adamant denial of his own kin. Why is he denying her? They have medical proof that she is part of their family, so why is he rejecting her so forcefully?

"Ok, I understand that you have some concerns regarding the validity of her identity. If you wish to discuss this further, please go to the Hokage's office and speak with her-" Ino felt a small hand touch her back. She stopped speaking and turned slightly to see Hinata somewhat hiding behind her.

Hiashi's stare was harsh, trying to see through the lies this girl must have told them about being his daughter. The girl looked up, staring straight at him, white meeting white, hard and firm meeting soft and scared. She broke the stare first, white eyes flickering to Neji, shifting slowly towards him, reaching out with her right hand-

Hiashi grabbed her wrist, bringing it close to his face. The girl, visibly distraught, tried to pull her wrist from his grasp, until her eyes met his again and she saw, she _felt_ his glare, submitting to his assessment. He flipped her wrist, inspected the area of her wrist that rests below her little finger, beyond where any veins were visible on her milky skin.

A small, pinkish purple birthmark in the shape of a crescent moon.

Hiashi let go of her wrist, almost forcefully throwing it out of his grasp. He turned around to head towards the Hokage's office, he needed to speak with her _now_. He ignored the slight sting behind his eyes that are a telltale sign of tears approaching. If anyone paid close attention to the Hyuuga head's face, they would notice the tiniest twinge of pink amongst his white eyes. But Hiashi Hyuuga was trained to hide his emotions. He would only cry internally, where no one, not even those with the Byakugan, could see his weakness.

_His daughter is alive. His little girl is home._

* * *

It was too silent.

Tsunade hated it. The room was too bright, and the company was too stuffy. It was a waiting game – no one wanted to give in and speak up first, but she was going to go _bat shit crazy_ if someone does not make some sort of noise. _But she will not lose this silent game_. The Hyuuga head finally sighed.

Tsunade internally smirked. _I win_.

"So, Lord Hyuuga, what did you want to discuss? I assume this is about your daughter-"

"Please, Lady Hokage, I just want to know what happened. Yesterday, my…my daughter was dead. Today I find out that the last fifteen years was a lie. I need to know everything."

"Please understand this, Lord Hyuuga, we do not know what happened to her. We were all under the impression that when the Cloud kidnapped her fifteen years, that they ended up killing her. There was no proof otherwise to believe the opposite. We do not know why they returned her, and we do not know what they did to her, especially since she still has her eyes. All we know is that she was found outside of Konoha, intact, and that she needs to be observed and have a psychological eval-"

"Psychological what? What is wrong with her? What have you done to her?"

Tsunade decided not to tell Hiashi just yet about the whole messy…possession business, figuring he would not take it well. "Well…she exhibited some behavior that is a bit too childlike for someone of her age group. We need to evaluate her in order to properly help her with her new healing process."

Tsunade internally smirked. If the Hyuuga head refused her plan of care, then he would be known as someone who would impede on the health of his child, his _heir_. What other questionable things is this clan doing behind closed doors? That's right, she can play the clan game. Everything was going her way, and the Hyuuga knew it. Tsunade could almost see the huff that anyone other than a Hyuuga would do.

"Fine," he spat out, almost visibly angry at this turn of events. "What now? When will she come back to the Hyuuga?"

"It depends on what we find during her evaluation. But please be aware that it will be a _long_ healing process. Based on the tests that we have done already, I am honestly surprised that she is still alive. Based on my medical knowledge, she should be dead; in fact, I have seen dead people in a better condition than she is in." She knew she was being harsh, but she needed to push the point across to Hiashi. His daughter's prognosis is not good. Tsunade may not know how to help this girl. She may be in the hospital for a long time. She may have a long recovery time _at home_ with a need for constant watch. Tsunade is literally saying that she, _the best mednin in the whole world_, may not be able to help her, and Hiashi needs to understand that.

Hiashi hardened his face as the reality of the situation. He thanked the Hokage, got up, and left her office. She took a deep breath and sighed it out.

She really needed a drink.

* * *

Hiashi was back at the Hyuuga compound, returning to his office in a pensive state. He just needed to sit back in his chair and accept all that just happened. He needed to make accommodations for this news: first, announce to the clan and then the village of Hinata's return. Then, he has to plan appropriate living quarters for when…if she is able to come to and live at the compound. It is going to be a lot of messy paperwork and annoying meetings.

As Hiashi was planning his next steps, a slug poofed into existence on his desk, slime seeping into his _extremely expensive Ceylon Ebony Wood_ desk. Hiashi's eye twitched and he frowned at the summon; if she was not the best medical ninja in the world and working with his daughter right now, Hiashi would throttle Tsunade, and that idea was _really appealing right now_.

"What do you want?" Hiashi asked harshly, hoping to move this along to get rid of the slug so it could get off his desk. The slug just smiled at him and _wriggled its disgustingly slimy body_ further into the desk. The little monster knew that it was getting under Hiashi's skin; Tsunade probably told the thing to be an ass to Hiashi.

"The Hokage has some papers for you to read through and sign," the summon shifted to show the document holder strapped around its body. Hiashi swiped the holder from the slug and held it firmly. The slug looked at him expectantly.

"I will look through them and send them back with Shiryoku. You may go now." The smug bastard smiled cockily, wriggled again, and then poofed out.

Hiashi quickly did a rudimentary wipe down of his desk and the document holder before leaving his office to find a branch member to complete a more thorough cleaning. He was not going to let the slime stain his desk.

As the desk was being cleaned, Hiashi finally sat down in his private quarters and looked at the documents. Hiashi found the wording of the waivers for the psychological evaluation and other medical documents to be strange and even a bit unethical; terms like "the hospital is not liable for any type of harm that may come to the patient during the exam, psychological or physical, that can be explained properly," "I, [_insert name and relation _here] will be able to financially provide for [_insert patient name _here] for any and all medical costs incurred at this time," and "I, [_insert name and relation here_] hereby declare that I will not sue the hospital if [_insert name of patient_] is incapable of being healed to the standards of my own care and clan."

Hiashi may not have any experience with this type of thing, but he was certain that these forms and waivers were not the normal ones sent out to be signed. They were meant just for him, and Tsunade was just being petty. The Hokage and the Hyuuga head did not like each other, and that fact is apparent all throughout these documents and their exchanges.

But this was different. This involves his daughter. The daughter that he thought was mutilated and murdered at the hands of the enemy – Cloud. He needs to know what happened to her. He had a thought that as a father he hated but as a clan leader was confusing but important to contemplate: The cloud had kidnapped her, so why was she still alive, and more importantly, why was she still intact? _Why does she still have her eyes?_

* * *

Throughout her rounds in the hospital, Ino was humming under her breath, her mind focused on the Hyuuga heiress. She found herself in front of her room, and took a deep breath. She has never done any pseudo one on one work with patients before, and she was nervous.

Especially because this was the Hyuuga heiress. If something went wrong and for any reason the blame could be pushed onto Ino, she would have the entire Hyuuga clan coming after her head (she told the Hokage her worries regarding being responsible for Hinata; the Godaime told her not to worry about it with this scary glint in her eye. As she left the office, Ino could have sworn she heard some strange, cackling noises coming from that direction, but she must have been hearing things. And seeing things for that matter. Yes, hearing and seeing things.).

Standing outside of the door to her room, she took a deep breath and reached for the handle. Opening the door, Ino poked her head in to see if the girl was still sleeping. She wasn't – Hinata was not even in bed. _Ah, she must just be in the bathroom _Ino thought, calming down after that initial twinge of worry and fear seeped into her heart. _Think sensible thoughts, Ino_.

After a minute or so, Ino heard the rush, squeak and the sharp dance of water coming from the shower. Ino figured she would have a few minutes, and went to the bed, seeing if the sheets needed to be changed or not (luckily they did not), and then began to fold the sheets on the bed neatly. One of the Hokage's slugs came by with a case that after an initial evaluation of Hinata, Ino would write the appropriate information on the scroll in it, which the scroll will poof to the Hokage's desk, and after it has her official seal, it will poof to the nurse's station, where suggested items based on the evaluation will be sent to that case for use with the patient. Ino thanked the slug for the case and it poofed away (back to the Hokage, Ino surmised.).

It had been a while and Hinata was still in the shower. Ino walked towards the bathroom door and saw that it was slightly open. With a slight furrow of her brow, Ino stepped into the room and noticed a few things: that the room was incredibly thick with steam, the shower curtain was wide open (and thus quite a bit of water was accumulating on the floor), and Hinata was sitting in the tub, back facing the oncoming water, knees propped up with her chin resting on them, and she was fully clothed. Her hair, wet and splayed around her, looked like tendrils of blood seeping from everywhere, mixing with reddened skin.

Ino went to touch her shoulder, but immediately drew her hand back when it came in contact with the oncoming water; it was way too hot to shower in, scalding her hand with nine – no, ten – distinct red spots where the water landed. Ino instantly turned off the water and grabbed a towel to wrap her in.

"Okay, now let's get you out of these clothes and into fresh ones. They must be uncomfortable on your skin now." Ino brought her to the main part of the room, and found her a new hospital gown to wear, and aided with getting her dressed, Hinata's eyes hooded and clouded with lack of focus. She seemed like she was not _really_ there, she was an empty husk, just _existing_. Once Ino finished, she sat Hinata back on the bed and took a seat in the chair next to her and cleared her throat.

"So I am going to ask you a few questions now, alright?" Hinata nodded her head slightly. "Some of them are going to sound a little strange, but answer them as honestly as you can, okay?" Another nod.

"Can you confirm your name and date of birth for me, please?" Hinata answered with a small voice that sounded light with a hidden heaviness – not the same heaviness that resides in all ninja voices (since she never trained to become a shinobi), but there was something really heavy hanging around the girl, and it made Ino a little uneasy – almost uneasy enough that she wanted to run to the Hokage and beg her to pull her off this case. Almost. Ino pushed that feeling away; Ino liked confrontation – the more you try to push her away, the harder she pushed back.

Ino checked Hinata's wristband to confirm the information given. "Okay, great. Next question, can you tell me where you are and why you are here?" Hinata answered back with a slight tremor in her voice: "H-hospital…am I sick?"

Ino paused at this response. Did she not remember what has happened these past few days? "That is what I am trying to find out. One more silly question, okay? What is today's date?"

Hinata opened her mouth to answer and took a breath, but she paused and looked at Ino questioningly. "Can you tell me what month?" That look persisted.

"Year?" That look remained, and it etched into her face deeper and deeper with each question. "Can you tell me who is the Hokage right now?" Hinata perked up a little at that question, presumably because she knew the answer. But of course she does! After all, Tsunade has spent quite a bit of time with her, she should know who she is-

"S-Sarutobi Hiruzen."

* * *

**So there you have it folks. i have too much fun with pitting Tsunade and Hiashi against each other. PLUS fun fact Ceylon Ebony is actually one of the most expensive pieces of wood out there (the most expensive black wood). I was going to have him have the most expensive wood, but that is pink in color and a pink desk would not go well with his decor. **

**i may or may not go through the entirety of the evaluation. i might just skip past it. I wanna get to the meaty part of this story just as much as you do.**

**and hopefully the next chapter has Itachi XD**

**Jaa ne~~~~**


	6. Chapter 5

So, it has been a while. I meant to upload this months ago (I literally wrote most of this back in May). I feel like this should be longer given the long wait, but it felt like it was a good place to end. This is unbeta'd, so forgive/let me know of any mistakes.

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns. Plot is mine though.

Also: There is a lot of **MEDICAL JARGON** here in this chapter. If there is anything that seems too confusing/you don't want to look it up, just ask me and I will either put it in the next chapter or directly tell you. I am a nursing student, so I am using these terms. I don't expect that everyone who reads this will understand which info is important/out of a safe range, so I **BOLDED** that info so you don't have to guess.

* * *

Tsunade looked over the Head to Toe Assessment that Ino conducted, and was concerned with some of the results:

_Med-Nin: Yamanaka Ino; shift start 0700_

_General Appearance: Patient appears stated age. __**Her affect is absent with times of extreme fear. Underweight.**_

_Neurological: __**Alert and Oriented to person, place, and situation, but not time; patient did not know date, month, or year when asked. When asked Hokage, patient stated "Sarutobi Hiruzen."**__ PERRLA is intact. Patient is able to ambulate without assistive care or devices._

_Cardiac: S1/S2 present with __**irregular rate and rhythm. Abnormal heart sound detected – not identifiable as S3 or S4.**__ No pedal edema. __**3+ radial and pedal pulses.**_

_Respiratory: Breathing was unlabored, regular rhythm, __**bradypnic**__. Lung sounds clear. Chest expansion clear and even with no presence of sternal retractions._

_Gastrointestinal: Patient's abdomen is soft, non-tender, non-distended, and flat. Bowel sounds normoactive in all four quadrants. Patient's last bowel movement was this morning; formed, small, thin, __**tarry. **__Patient is able to pass flatus. Patient is on a normal diet; __**eats less than half of tray.**_

_Genitourinary: Patient is able to void independently, __**urinary output as of 1245 is 140 mL.**__ Urine is clear __**pale orange**__._

_Musculoskeletal: Patient exhibits motor strength of 5/5 bilaterally in upper extremities, plantar flexion, hip flexion, and dorsiflexion are 5/5 bilaterally. Patient is not at risk for falls._

_Integumentary: Skin is warm, dry, and normal for ethnicity. Upon admission, there were strange markings on the skin; the Hokage removed them with chakra; continued monitoring to see if they come back. Diaphoretic. No IVs. Mucus membranes are pink and moist. __**Patient is at risk for skin breakdown related to inadequate nutrition, frequent moistness of the skin, infrequent positioning, and lack of ambulation.**_

_Vital Signs: __**Blood Pressure 140/90 mmHg; Heart Rate: 57-93 bpm at rest taken apically and radially for one full minute each and with machine at 3 different times; Respiratory Rate: 10 per minute; Temperature: 38.0 C (oral); Oxygen Saturation: 93% via room air**__; Pain 0/10._

Tsunade stood. She knew this was going to be an insane mission, trying to heal the Hyuuga princess. But her duty as a Hokage and as a medical professional outweighed her rational mind, and she found herself walking towards the Hyuuga's room. She could fix the more obvious issues. That was easy. But what is in this girl's system? What is making her body go so haywire?

Tsunade walked in, finding Ino at the bedside, listening to her heart sounds once again. Aortic. Pulmonic. Erb's Point. Tricuspid. Mitral. Once Ino finished the round, she looked up, finding the Hokage. Tsunade pushed off the wall, walking all the way into the room, stopping at the bedside.

"We need to check for bleeding" she said, hands already glowing green, poised over the girl to look for any ulcers or other areas hemorrhaging internally. She first found one in her kidney, which was already starting to form a clot. Tsunade dissolved it and healed the kidney to prevent further bleeding. She then hovered over her stomach, finding a bleeding ulcer there as well, and proceeded to heal it.

"Get her to eat. She may be more likely now that it will not hurt. Keep her dry, and keep her hydrated. I'll take a listen to her heart." Tsunade placed her own stethoscope at the second intercostal space at the right sternal border – the aortic valve. The diaphragm pressed against her skin picked up the normal sounds. Lubb-dubb. Lubb-dubb. Lubb-dubb. Wait. There was something else there. Tsunade listened closer, pressing more firmly to try to make the sound louder. There. What is that? It sounds…almost like a…_growl?_ Tsunade pulled back, concerned, but continuing her assessment, going straight across the sternum, staying along the left side of the border – the pulmonic valve. Then down one intercostal space – Erb's Point. Down two intercostal spaces – the tricuspid valve. Across the intercostal space, stopping at the midclavicular line – the mitral valve.

Lubb-dubb. Lubb-dubb. Lubb-dubb. _And that growl thing._

Tsunade did not know what that could be. This girl was possessed – could it be that the Uchiha genius failed? Or was it just some residual after effect of the possession? Things were just getting stranger and stranger with this case and there was a part of the Hokage that was telling her to step away from this, that she should just give up. But there was another part of her, the med-nin and the Hokage spirit within her that was telling her to never give up on a member of the village. And that part was straining to grow against the odds.

"We will keep a close eye on what is going on with her heart sounds, seeing how it is over time. I think that as long as it doesn't change for the worse, it should be stable enough that it would not be an issue for her healing process." Ino nodded and proceeded to set up the food tray, pouring some orange juice from the small carton into a cup and gave it to Hinata. Hinata took a small sip and sat there, looking at the med-nins with a childlike innocence, sipping some more juice.

"You understand that protocol dictates that you cannot leave her side since you are with her as a one to one for the time being, I am going to leave you a slug here that will get you anything that you may need or to get into quick contact with me in case of an emergency." Ino nodded, watching the baby slug poof into existence before her. "Keep me updated with your reports, Ino. This is a crazy case we have here and she needs our help to get better." Ino gave her affirmation, showing a front of confidence.

Tsunade left the room, blowing out a big breath of air. She walked to her office, not noticing the bows of patrons and staff whom she passed, thinking about whom she could rope into helping her and Ino with the Hyuuga heiress.

* * *

_In a field of green, there was one spec of violet in the distance, waiting to be seen. And the small weasel did see it, a beautiful violet flower. He ran up to it, enamored. His smooth pink nose lightly pressed against one of the petals, backing away in a motion just as fast. He enjoyed the smell and feel of the flower, wanting to rub his whiskers up against the flower. But he did not, knowing the force would kill it. Instead, he sat next to it, guarding it, protecting it. He lay down, enjoying the sun against his white fur, until he felt it no more. He opened his eyes, disturbed by the great shadow across his face; an extremely large bird flew over him, causing him to jump up and hiss at it. _

_He will protect his flower with everything he had._

_As the bird swooped down to claw at the violet, the weasel jumped up to push the bird away. The bird evaded, but returned, causing the weasel to prepare to jump again. But the bird did not fly down in an attempt at the flower again._

_The bird dug its talons into the shoulder and side of the weasel, bright red staining white, bright red staining green._

_Unable to jump, the weasel tried pawing at the bird, but it was too weak and too slow. The great bird grabbed the violet, and flew away, scattering a few torn petal fragments in its wake. _

_The weasel lay dying, unable to move. He watched the bird, and once the bird was out of sight, he looked at the fallen petal fragments, counting ten. He saw them floating in the pool of his blood, red overtaking violet, and he tried reaching for them, paws growing weaker and weaker. Just as his vision turned dark, he felt something tickle his ear, so soft, it was almost like a kiss. Before he took his final few breaths, he heard a voice, soft yet urgent, pleading._

"_Save me…. I do not want to die."_

* * *

Itachi awoke with the greatest sense of foreboding. What the hell was that? He rarely ever dreamt, and never something so abstract. Whatever it meant, he could not let it bother him. He shook his head and went about his morning routine, looking out the window and admiring the view from his room. He was happy that his room was in a more secluded area of the compound, allowing for peace and quiet, and a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of a large familial compound. A few of his mother's gardens separated him from their own section of the compound, his closest neighbors.

He walked out if his quarters, headed towards the kitchen for breakfast absentmindedly thinking about the dream. He grabbed his breakfast tray of rice, miso soup, fish, melon, and seasoned tomatoes (thankfully replacing the natto that was on his father's and other elder clan members' trays – he hated to waste food but he hated natto even more), sat at the table and grabbed his chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu," he started for the fish first, claiming a piece with his chopsticks and bringing it to his mouth, still mulling over the dream. He continued his methodical way of eating his breakfast until he sensed a summon about to poof onto the table right over his tomatoes. He grabbed them and placed them to the other side of his tray when the slug finally appeared and landed where they were.

"What does the Hokage want, namekuji-dono?"

"Tch," the slug was hoping to ruin the Uchiha's day in more than one way. Oh well. "She wants to see you, so hurry up. She has a proposition for you."

The slug unsummoned itself and left Itachi to his methodical eating habits, which were a bit hurried in order to reach the Hokage faster. After finishing his breakfast and morning routine, he went to the Hokage Tower without much obstacle, as his cute little brother and his friends are on missions. He knocked on the door to her office, and felt it was safe to enter when he heard a garbled sounding response. He found the Hokage sitting at her desk, head held in one hand, eyes closed and brows furrowed.

"Hokage-sama, you summoned me for a proposition?"

"Yes. Do you remember requesting leave from ANBU duties? Well I decided to grant it."

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I requested leave almost 2 months ag-" "Yes, yes, and I am granting it now, alright?"

Itachi squinted his eyes at her in an almost glaring fashion, not believing that that was all there was. "What, is that it? Why accept it now? What is the catch?"

Tsunade cleared her throat. "The catch is that I am assigning you to aid one of my med-nin on a special patient we have. Your med training should be enough and I will also leave you with a slug in case you need anything. You are not the only one that I am requesting this from."

"With all due respect, I requested time off from duties in order to-" "You can do whatever you want or need to do in your free time from this. Your leave is indefinite for the time being, so you have all the time you need for whatever. You start in three days. Dismissed."

* * *

So there we are. Fun facts about me: (1) I hate natto and I gave that hatred to Itachi. I honestly don't know if he likes it or not. (2) I had a lil bit of trouble of writing out that the weasel booped the flower with his nose without actually writing that he booped the flower with his nose. I am in college dammit, I should be able to write creatively and sound like my age.

I kind of made up that medical report. Like the stuff is real and all, but some of the language had to be modified to fit the chapter/naruto universe.

See you next time,

SP1CYSTR4WB3RRY


End file.
